How to Draw the Head from Any Angle

Lesson by

10M

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Assignments 804Lesson NotesDownloads 2

How to Draw the Head from Any Angle

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Portrait Drawing Fundamentals

10M

Mark as Completed

Assignments 804Lesson NotesDownloads 2

Draw the Loomis Head

Take a bunch of pictures of either yourself or someone else and then use them to construct the head using the Loomis method. Focus on getting the up and down tilt correct. Make sure to make careful measurements that I mentioned in this video and keep your lines clean. Remember that every person has individual proportions that will be different from the average loomis head. At this point, just draw the average proportions. Once you’re comfortable with that, you can try to capture the distinct characteristics of the person you’re drawing.

If you’re having trouble drawing the circle or oval of the head, spend some at the beginning of each day warming up your hand with a lot of circles and oval.

Nicole Guz

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2mo

For the fourth week of my portrait study, I sought to learn from Stephen Bauman's approach by mimicking his shading and line work. Afterwards, I practiced these skills by creating portraits of Hollywood actors based on different references. I invite any advice, insights, or critiques.

Martha Muniz

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15d

Beautiful rendering, and great mileage! I would recommend using the guidelines for the facial features especially to double check the placement and construction before going into shading. Making sure they align in the same perspective, meaning all the features are facing the same direction, is key to making a portrait feel solid, and doing it as early as possible saves more time than if you were to correct it once it's all rendered out. I've added an example of what I mean by checking the alignment, hope this helps! :)

Nicole Guz

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2mo

Three weeks into drawing portraits after watching tutorials. Any tips and critiques? How can i bridge the gap between my current skill level and that of accomplished artists such as Stephen Bauman and Jeff Watts ? I use graphite on 8.5x11 paper

Melanie Scearce

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2mo

These are lovely portraits. Keep it up! Mileage is what separates the likes of Jeff Watts and Stephen Bauman from less experienced artists. My advice is to continue your journey and enjoy :)

Nicole Guz

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2mo

Second week after taking the whole portrait class. Any critiques and tips?

@pusheen

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2mo

this is really cool! I think if you add a bit more shading and definition it would make it even better.

faye zhang

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3mo

Round 2: I’m having trouble with the jaw and chin area, especially for female faces

Nicole Guz

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3mo

After finishing the whole features of the face. These are the first 4 tries!

@sharpjab

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3mo

I got a bit more rhythm in making different head angles using loomis method. So I was trying to pick one face and draw it in different angles while still keeping it recognisable. I think I could get it to look somewhat consistent. Like I can tell it's the same person. I'm still struggling with getting the angle of the tilt right. Is there any hack to measure the tilt correctly?

@drusk

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3mo

I don't think there is any easy hack to getting the tilt correct. It's all about the spacing of the facial features and the ear placement. Tilting up puts the top of the ears below the eyebrows, tilting down puts them above. Remember, the human face is one of the most difficult subjects to draw not because of its complexity but because we are all genetically preprogrammed to know exactly how it is supposed to look. Micro changes will look wrong. Watch Stephen Bauman do a portrait demo (a master of portraiture) and even he will get things off on the first pass and need to make adjustments. These look good by the way. Keep at it.

@sharpjab

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3mo

My attempt at learning loomis method for the sixth time. I’m still struggling with looking upwards with a tilt angle. Have used my own face.

Dudts Draws

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3mo

good, keep it up, just remember always that the centerline is very important for later stage , (placement of the features ) So you should see it clearly in every loomis head.

Nicole Guz

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3mo

My try after watching the loomis method.( I have yet to watch the features!)

James Burnette

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3mo

I created this to practice different views. I found one online (the line art one) and started using it but I don't think it's correct. Let me know if you can think of a way to improve it.

Dudts Draws

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3mo

Is it your sketches in the first image?

Nicole Guz

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3mo

faye zhang

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4mo

This was so fun to do! Please give me some feedback on my Loomis heads. At first glance, I can see I got some of the angles wrong. I’ve straightened a lot of them out 😅

@sknight

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4mo

Have really been enjoying these! Is there any sort of "rule" for where the line from the center of the oval to the chin should stop on the front plane? It seems like everything else is slotted into place but that line lends it self more to placing it where it feels right, as opposed to using a more math-y approach.

Joseph Osley

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4mo

These look great! I'm having a bit of trouble parsing the phrasing, "center of oval to the chin," in your question. If you're referring to(and here's where I have a hard time translating the visual to the verbal) the curved line from above the ear to the chin, I think that is like you said, more intuitive and less math-y. It's just a guideline to help you envision where the plane change happens from side to front(I think? I am not an expert). I think you've got a good sense of it. The heads on page two are especially well done. All the best!

Joseph Osley

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5mo

Figured I'd throw these here to compare with my first 100 Loomis Heads. Four months! Time is a flat circle... which you can use to construct Loomis heads, should you so choose to do so. So; I drew 100 Heads in ten days for the 100 Head Challenge, put forth by Ahmed Aldoori. The Pinterest board these came from had more than 100 reference pics so I did these at random. There were a lot of statues, sculptures, and other stuff in with typical photo refs. Some really cool angles and subjects. I was so nervous about getting them done in ten days that the results I've put up here are all over the place. Super inconsistent. After doing these and the other 100 x various facial features drawings I can see that I've made some improvement but my measuring is atrocious. I sometimes feel like I've entered a fugue state while drawing portraits where I think I am nailing it and then, when eyeing the results, realize I've not even come close to anything worthwhile. Butt. I will continue to try. Because I like to draw.

Gannon Beck

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5mo

These are incredible! You are an inspiration!

Robert

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5mo

These look sick great stuff

@feawi

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5mo

Exploring with the loomis head, I used it to be the base for a more caricature comic portrait

@feawi

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5mo

Some Loomis heads I’m working on

Rhubarb

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5mo

Found some reference photo sheets of the same model's head from different angles. The first two sets were of male models, the third female.

@feawi

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6mo

So I’ve been drawing more Loomis head, I noticed sometimes the head comes out really bulky and wide, I don’t like that look unless I’m actually purposely going for it which I’m not at this point, can anyone help explain why the head is coming out so wide. Also, for the side plane I feel like my ovals are too wide, the video said depending on how far the head is turning will determine how far wide the oval needs to be but what’s a good to determine this exactly, I’m wondering if the wideness of the oval/side plane is a subjective choice. Looking forward to the critiques they are important in helping one another get better.

Melanie Scearce

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6mo

These are looking good. For the heads that seem too wide, you may be starting with an uneven circle. Make sure that the height and the width are the same on the first circle you draw before adding in the oval. Hope that helps!

@feawi

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6mo

Trying to turn the head upwards can’t tell if I did it right any critiques would be helpful

Gannon Beck

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6mo

It looks like you're on the right track, although it's hard to tell from just one example. Do lots and lots of these.

@feawi

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6mo

I’m struggling with learning how to divide the line in into thirds in order to correctly place the oval shape for the side plane, any critique you have I definitely would appreciate it. Also, any tips on how to find and correctly place the rule of third on the line please help thank you guys for any tips

Carlos Javier Roo Soto

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6mo

I don't know how many times now I had posted about this subject. Do you think my structure is good enough to move on to features or should I practice keep practicing the loomis method?

Pamela D

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6mo

Your structure is really good, and I do both now as I am only just starting to think in 3d. Once the form is right the features almost appear, like your last two I can clearly see their faces in the forms.